our advent tree.

Every year I make this paper homemade advent tree and hang it on the wall. Underneath each ornament is an activity that we get to do each day to celebrate the Christmas season. The kids know they aren't allowed to peak until the actual day and it's always a fight as to which kid gets to flip up the ornament in the morning. This little tradition is one of our favorites each year and while it's definitely a process to put together and create 25 different activities, it's one of my favorites too. 

The other day our advent activity was to bake Christmas cookies. I usually make at least a dozen different types of cookies each year and always love when the kids can help me bake. We decided to make peanut butter blossoms and they turned out great!

 Another activity last week was to visit reindeer. I didn't get any pictures of the actual reindeer but instead snapped this cute pic of Simon pretending to be the captain of the Jolly Roger on the old lit up pirate ship at Country Village.  A fun afternoon outing, despite the super cold day.

 And the Christmas crafts! I'm the least crafty person I know (the advent tree is about as good as it gets around here). But, I found these cute wooden gingerbread houses and reindeer with markers the kids could use to color them. I sort of figured they wouldn't care much but they each spent almost an hour carefully coloring each one. I love how they turned out and now plan to keep them for next years' decorations.

 Just yesterday our activity was to go see the Nutcracker! The boys weren't as interested this year so it was the perfect opportunity to take Lucy for a girls day. I really love being able to expose her to the arts through theater and any other production she might be interested in. The dancing was wonderful but the big highlight was the live orchestra. She probably walked down to see the pit 6 or 7 times! Even better, it was a local ballet company so we didn't have to drive into Seattle, pay for parking or even go out to dinner. Such a fun day!

 And finally, our gingerbread house! I love Costco for so many things, including this pre-assembled house that comes with everything. The kids did a great job sharing the candy, not eating any of it (okay, so maybe I bribed them with a cookie if they didn't eat the super old/hard/gross candy that came with the kit) and really took their time to make the "perfect" house! I love how it turned out.

The rest of the month includes lots of little surprises for them including eating cookies, driving around to look at lights, watching Christmas movies and writing letters to Santa. But tonight...we'll spend our evening cheering on the Seahawks for Monday Night Football. Go Hawks!